Principles of Art

Tonight the Dorothy Heralds did an interview for the show Radio Literature on WORT here in Madison. The interview will broadcast this Thursday, September 28th at 7PM Central. For those of you not in the Madison area, you can listen via the Internet here For those of you who don't know, WORT is a community supported radio station here in Madison. No, not "Public Radio" in the PBS, "All Things Considered" sense. It's actually a non-profit, publicly owned radio station. You may be confused about why we'd be spotlighted on a show that focuses on "poetry, fiction, non-fiction and children's literature from Wisconsin". A fan of ours, Keenan, is one of the hosts. The tie-in is that Keenan, who is a writer himself, has a lot of ideas about how work in different disciplines not only influence each other, but how they work from the same universal principles.

He's also a friend and co-conspirator of Jess, a local filmmaker we're working with. Jess is producing (and directing and all that other stuff) a film and has asked us to contribute to the soundtrack. This has, of course, been very exciting for the band as we've always looked to film as one of our main inspirations. To finally be involved in the medium has been a bit of a dream come true for us.

During the interview, we talked about the growth of the band and how we write. One of the ideas that came out was that in the process of developing as an artist, you begin to trust your "instincts" shall we say. You're presented with an idea, or concept, and instead of working out a response, or "solution", by analyzing, you react in something of an emotional way. As time goes by, those responses become more appropriate and poignant. They become the "correct" responses, or the ones that make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. I can't help but think of this as the response to the touch of a lover. Instead of calculating a response, the response is immediate and "true". Almost in a Zen sense.

Ranting Against the Machine...

I'm sick of Madison. More over, I'm sick of the music I hear in Madison. I've become convinced that over 99% of the music performed in Madison is just plain boring. The music that occurs in this town is often the most recycled, mid-life crisis, Blatz-league crap. The musicians in Madison tend to fall into one of the following categories:

• aging punk trying to relive youthful glory of "sticking it to the establishment"


• rocker gone country because it's "where my roots are"


• UW music grad that thinks that playing in a group with his/her professors is the greatest


• aging metal guys that jump on every 'alt*' bandwagon to come down the pipe

I didn't include the Pabst drinking hipster crowd as they're generally just one of the above in disguise.

As John Cage said, "I'm not scared of new ideas. It's the old ones that scare me." I tend to agree with his statement, at least in principle. It's so frustrating to have to listen to CDs and bootlegs and mp3s to hear any new ideas. Or just to hear some honest-to-goodness art. Something that actually speaks to life and experience today, rather than simply regurgitates the experiences of others from bygone times.

I want to blame the sad state of music here (and most everywhere it would seem) on the accessibility of cheap instruments and promoters/booking agents desire for a quick buck. However, I can't. These seem to be a part of a larger problem in our culture. A problem of product and passivity. A problem that I'm not interested or equipped to address at this point.

Happy Wednesday!

Been pretty busy this past month. Tracking on the Dorothy Heralds' new album has been complete for a while. We're waiting for mixes from Bill Connors up in Minneapolis. Should have them all by the first of September! You can hear a preview of our new song 'Nora' at our MySpace site.

In other news, it looks like I'll be working on a couple of infrastructure projects for DNA Studios. I'm very excited to work with Brian and Mark as they're both very creative and open. I'm still writing material for a CD to be released this year. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done in time to submit for the WI Arts Board Fellowship Grant. All I need is scores and recordings of three pieces. Don't know how I'll be able to do it, but it'll be fun trying.

By the way, the Dorothies are in the MTV2 "On the Rise" competition. Stop by and vote for us by clicking here. I'd like to thank A Planet Named Janet and Dr. John's Fortress for spreading the word about this.

Update: We're at second place locally! Thanks for everyone who's vot(ed)/(ing)!